Another day another wife

And so I have finished wife number four which was Henry's third wife. Confused?

I stole this picture of the internet so that you can see how the picture will turn out. The wife I just finished was called Anne Seymour. I love the blues on her dress, the wife I have just started Anne Boleyn was my favorite in the Philippa Gregory books and the Tudors Tv series, but I HATE her dress. Going to hurry up and finish as fast as I can so that I can do the pretty green dress instead. Maybe I will do the border in between the boring dress.

Finished wife, even if she only looks like half a person. 

Finishing touches and Henry revisited

My finishes just keep coming. And I haven't started anything new either! Just doing my wips like a good girl.

Let me show you:

 So I finished this card, and I picked up again another card that I never showed you, but I will after it is finished:)

I really like this card, and I know just the person to give it to too. Someone who loves cats. Which is not a spoiler because all my friends love cats and boyfriends family does too.

Here in the basement Mimle is still having fun with her water and flavoring it…  This time it was Oxbows Botanical Hay flavor, and it was really delicious says bunny.

I just vacuumed so I hope it will stay hayless through the day. But I would not put any money on that;)

I also picked up Henry again. That Tudor rose which has a mistake is still bugging me, so I decided to do what I did on the Somebunny rocking horse, just continue somewhere else where there were no mistakes and leave the mistake for another day when I love the piece more because of it's progression.

Henry's cape is almost done now. Then only three more wives to go and a border. Yay. I can do it, I can have it finished this year! 

(please don't make me remember I said that when I fail and panic start some Christmas gifts;) )

 Now, I wonder where I placed all those beads, they were not with the floss:S I am fairly certain that they are in a rabbit container on the bookcase, I am sure I haven't packed them up yet at least so they should still be in the apartment somewhere….

Snailing by Friday

I didn't really do any more on Henry this past week. I just finished my page and then had a bit of indecisiveness on exactly where to continue. Should I redo the Tudor-rose that had a small mistake, should I finish Henry, should I continue down the lady's dress or to the left? Too many choices, so my mind refused to think about it any more and so I picked up "Fred" and we had a lot of fun until it was dark and I took out "Almost Perfect". As you can probably see, they have been on a rotation, those two. Steadily working on Fred while it being light and bright and taking out the angel when it was raining or nearing bedtime. (and sometimes even going to bed while it was still dark!). 

Another book is almost done. Think I will finish in another week, if you can see the horizontal line then you can see how much further I have to do in that direction. When that portion is finished I am 1/4 parts through. Still not looking forward to the backstitching on this one:P

I have started on the dreaded backstitching on this. Just because. Look, the naughty one is peaking! I love his innocent look.

Today boyfriend and I bought a used little table for my Wip's. So they don't clutter up the table when I decide to switch to another stitch in the middle of another movie. I like the old look, and it's ricketiness. Boyfriend is hoping my things will stay in this table and not slowly expanding onto the other table. I think it is futile as everybody knows stash expands rapidly.

We saw another little guy. With Zebra stripes, but he was not using the zebra-crossing so I hope he arrived safely where ever he was going and avoided the cars:P

And now for something completely different.

But still vaguely familiar. It is Henry-time.

I know I have been a bit lax with my posting, so I am trying to amend that. There are a few posts that I have on my mind that I just have to write out. And since there might not be that much stitchy-stuff in those I am hoping you get your fix in this post.

There is only a little bit left on Jane Seymour's head and then I am done with another page. ^^ Very happy about that. My small goal was to finish this page by the end of the week, and I am very happy to  

have a goal that I've (nearly) accomplished. (in time) 

I like small accomplishes, in fact I measure everything in small accomplishments. Painstakingly ticked off my increasing to-do-list.  

Next week's goal is to finish Henry completely. ( not Henry as in the entire piece, but Henry as in the completion of his jacket. I am not insane enough to think that I can finish something as big as this in a week, when the other half took me six months)

In other news,  boyfriend and I have started watching Tudors together. <3

In case you have forgotten, this is how Henry and his crew will look once finished in another four months or so:P (picture borrowed from sewandso).

I am thinking that when I have completed this weeks goal I will take out dear Fred. Also, I must confess that I bought a small something. ( on sale) But, after secret project number two's completion I needed something easy and a travel-light stitch. So, for those of you familiar with it, it is a dictionary piece from "Bothy Threads".  I will not disclose which. ( Gorjuss was also from there, but this is completely different than her). And and, it is another piece stitched for an occasion, so, hence it will be remembered as Secret Project number 3.  And you will only see small peeks occasionally. And no, I have still not done ANY more threads on Secret Project Number One. But in danger of jinxing myself, there is soon another WiSP Sunday.

Bunny was having a small adventure, jumping up on our chairs and when spotted jumping down. Pretending it had not been her on that chair. Must have been some other bunny. 

When boyfriend and I went for a walk the other day, in the short interval that it was not raining we spotted this little guy. I am pretty sure he was supposed to be brown? He was rather yucky.

So, it has been a while

And while I am perfectly aware that it is WiSP Sunday here in the warren, I had no WiSPs to do... So instead I gave Henry the old dust off and persevered.

And if we pretend that we don't see the half-finished Tudor rose in the middle right of the picture I can (almost) honestly say that I am atlast halfway through! Yay. And it took me six months to do.

Now, you may wonder what happened to all of my secret WiSP-projects and think that I plain forgot I had them, but, I did tell you Secret WiSP number two was finished, and secret project number two is so utterly boring I DID plain forget. 

Lets move on shall we, and I will unveil Secret Project number two:

Tadah!

My dear friend got this as a present for finishing off her librarian degree. Yay you. 

Alas she is still not in frames as I of yet have not found one worthy of her (or my friend) But I will keep looking. Meanwhile I suspect little lady Gorjuss books is lying somewhere in a drawer in my friend's room sitting pretty. 

I leave you with my little lady, munching happily away on some parsley stems. Don't mind the clutter, she is in the habit of re-decorating after we have cleaned the house. ;)

17.Mai er vi så glad i

The title is from a norwegian song, that I used to sing on 17th of May.

Today we celebrate the National day in Norway. This is a picture from work. I adore this little dresser and its colours. I really want it. Look how the knobs don't match.

 Endearing. But sadly it is not for sale:(

I've done a little on Henry, but I still have not ripped out the part that is wrong. Since it is only on the inside of the Tudor rose and not on top I just continued over. I have now done a little bit more on it since the picture too. 

I promised to show you a sneak-peek of my prizes for the giveaway, so here goes. I might find some more goodies too.  Only two more followers to go!

In the end I want to show you a picture from when she got a new tunnel, which she still has not figured out and is only used for nibbling on.

(oh, and for my english speaking readers, I think I have managed to make my blog easier for you now as it is in English? Or at least should be)

(and I am sorry, no Friday- freebies for a while I think, as life is getting in the way)

Store Stories and purchases

Yesterday I was out shopping with two of my friends while boyfriend was at home sleeping. He just finished his master after an all-nighter, so I thought going out would be great for both of us, bunny was not inclined to think so since she had to spend the day in a pen. So the story about my purchases came a day late.... Oh, well.

Let me show you what I bought:

This little beauty, I have decided it is the perfect place to stash half-finished cards and cards that are drying. So I put in some old cards to show you. The first is my latest finish and the other is an old valentine card from my friends. (see, sometimes I get bunny-cards and those are the ones I treasure the most). 

And I got scolded at work because I wear my hair mostly loose and I said that the only hair-piece I had was a hair-tie that I used when I was about six. And that is a long time ago, so I felt I was a bit overdue to buy all these accessories. (and I have always had long hair so I have no excuse to not have an abundance of hair accessories, I do have several hair-bows though, but they let your hair still fall around and into the paint, so I guess it was no good)

Look at my new dress, isn't it pretty? It is for the national-day. It is warm and cuddly with a bunny on it.  What more could you want in a dress? I LOVE IT. I have been drooling over it for several months now, and when it was on sale I hurriedly bought it. 

Since this is not a blog about my life really, but more about my crafts I will show you my progress. More beading done. And another Tudor-rose, how I hate those Tudor-roses.... It is really taking forever.

It has been really sad and rainy most days so I have not made a single stitch on Fred, too dark and murky to see anything...

And bunny got a new toy too, since us humans celebrated with take-out pizza and Qi.

She LOVED this toy. Inside the little wooden blocks there is a hole where we put treats and she has to take them out. Fun for everyone. Especially when she gets really frustrated and bangs it about, digs frantically and almost gives up... Oh, and it is fun watching her throw the candy out but having so much fun bashing the toy around that she forgets to eat the treats. I love bunnies.

I still have not eaten the first out-side-ice-cream-of-the-year.

It is Friday again I reckon

And I did not forget! Hah! Here is a completely meaningless and boring post about absolutely nothing. But atleast I did not forget.

As you probably know by now, I work a little now. And what I do is paint furniture, I like painting, it is calming. And look at my free manicure.

I was getting a bit tired of all the pink, so I painted a chair this colour and it is a great colour indeed, works wonders with the pink.

I have a really crocked pinky. Looks a bit silly doesn't it?

But today I was home because I was not feeling very well, so I started on a freebie. From WOCS 202. Unfortunately a colour was missing and I did not have a replacement, so I choose two purples from my stash. I love the cute hangar that came with it.

This is how far Fred has gotten. Think I can finish the bird tomorrow?

 So, this is Henry, can you see the beading I've started?

 I can show you some closeups. Not the right colour, but close enough:P

 I did not bead her dress. Or the flap thing on her hat. I decided they looked good without so I left it. Less work for me the better. And I really do think beading that part of her dress would make things look crowded and I did not want that. I did not want to do french knots either so I'll just make do.

This is the replacement colours I chose. Do you know another cross stitch I am making that is using these colours? Yes, it is secret project number two, which I know is taking a lot of time, but I am down to doing the boring colours and the stupid tangling glitter floss so it takes time.... And then there will be backstitch. Will I finish that in time using only WiSP Sundays? I wonder...

Speaking of backstitch, that is all that is left on this piece so it is time to go to bed and hope I feel like being bored enough to do them tomorrow. Would have been nice with another finish though.....

Bon Voyage and then some.

Chansu ga matteru

Your chance is waiting. 

Oh yeah. (You'll understand if you read the whole post;) 

 My beads have arrived and I have started beading, the beads are not really the right colours, instead of gold I got antic gold which looks more like mustard yellow, but it works and I have no intentions to buy more.... The white looks more clear and the red looks like bright christmas red and not the red from the picture. But I am a bit fed up with all the beads and knots and all, and just want to GET ON WITH IT! Hehe. And I realized that I am not done with the grey on Henry after all even if I have broadcasted it everywhere, because his arm is grey too. DUH. And I am not done with his reds either, because, well, his clothes in the left corner is not done yet. What was I thinking about when I said I was done with both the red and the grey on Henry but still knew he was not done. You can see that with half an eye that he is lopsided and not done.... I must have been thinking he was done everywhere except his head. And I do know his head does not utilize red or grey, that is my story and I am sticking to it!

Another book down too. This was a goal I kept, so I am feeling happy and accomplished. (never mind that I did all that book sewing on Sunday and completely forgot WiSP Sunday AGAIN). We'll just pretend that didn't happen and continue to bask in the glory of a job well done.

I have started on the bird, which is this weeks goal. 

Tomorrow is a holiday so I will spend the entire day in stitching. Yay.

 We found some wild yummies for bunny today, and she was very thankful. First dandelion of the year.

I like living in a small town, no one is around looking weirdly at me when I find some edibles for the bunny in a ditch and precariously hold my shopping bags (this always happen when my arms are full anyway) and bend over in a ditch.... I must look very idiotic, but I don't know because no one has been around to tell me. (except boyfriend but he does not dare to tell me I look ridiculous.) But free treats for bunny is always nice, too bad we found them after buying herbs for her...

Almost home today, MIL was standing at the mailbox carrying free cake. YAY! Wish she had come before we went to the store, would have saved us buying cake;)

One of two Hello!Project song on my mind: I love this. This is Zoku Biyuden, not that I don't love old Biyuden, but since this  video had "Only you" AND "koisuru ANGEL heart" I had to choose this.

Ah, I wish I could go to France this summer and see the girls in C-ute. (yup, that is the groups name, not to be confused with this group that is singing, because as stated that is  Zoku (new)Biyuden, with two Morning Musume members (one of them has already graduated and not the one who is tone-deaf :X) and one Berryz koubou member.

I'll show you a proper music video, from morning musume. I hated the song when it was released, but I find myself singing to it daily... So I had to include it. Can you find the two members from the song above?

Sunday shines for you

Regarding the title, I know it is really monday. But I am allowed a bit of creative headlining? And technically this post is up so late in the day that it is monday anyway...

Today, the sun shone, Yay, I think spring is really coming out. And about time.

So, I did not stitch the entire set on this that I said I would, because I have not stitched much today, I have been doing housework. Which is a bit dull, and boyfriend and I have played on the PS3 which was very fun.

But I am planning to stitch abit more before bed. :)

 Look at Henry, I am done with all the grey's on him, finally, and all I have left is his arm. Now he does seem a bit disproportionate in this picture, I mean, who has such broad shoulders? But then again he might have padded them somehow... Like they did in the 80-90s. He was after all the most handsome man in all of Christendom at the time, so he might have had shoulders like boulders, or he might have had a foreseeing fashion sense and started the padded shoulder look before his time.

Look at my bunny. Just the backstitch to go.... Just like everybody else, I love this design, but I HATE the backstitching on it... But it is going to be so worth it, just like in all of Margaret Sherry's designs.

 I love her designs. :)

I have one of her books too, but there were far to little bunnies in the book, a shame because I think her bunnies are the best from her range. (but again, I might be biased) 

So. I took Fred out for a bit, but all the black on black action was starting to get me down. So I gingerly started on a book instead, can you see where I started? There is a LOT of blending of colours on this design. And I wonder what will happen if I run out of one colour since it is not done in anchor or DMC... Want to know something that almost threw me off Fred? The colour that is used the most in this kit is BLACK. I am serious, there was like six times more black than any other colour... I am hoping it will be worth it in the end, even if I feel bored at the moment.

When I am done with Secret Project Number 2, I have another design in mind. I found this from here. And I just could not help myself. I bought the magazine it came from on the ipad, and I am now in the process of kitting it up. I have also finally bought from sew and so those beads needed on Henry and since it is a bit stupid to just buy small things I bought a Just Nan limited edition bunny, because it just screamed to me.

I had not realized

 but look how much I have done on Henry since Sunday? That is not even a full week's worth of stitching... :D If I could keep this up I'd be finished in no time. But I know why my needle was on fire. Because I was being a night owl and stitching the night away and sleeping during the day. Oooops.

Next week I have a work thing so I have to properly change my sleeping pattern. Starting now, off to bed.

Just going to admire my progress a bit more. When I think about it, this means I am almost halfway through too.

Doing my own head in

With my own cleverness.

Do you love me? Now that I can dance?

Bunny was decorating, I only helped a little. Here she is demanding cuddles on the floor.

Sometimes when we walk past her she'll just plop into a ball next to us expecting cuddles and who can say no to that? She has indeed trained us well, I think.

Another thing she does; if your hand is nearby she'll position her head under my hand in the hope of cuddles. 

This week, boyfriend and I have started to watch QI. And it really is quite interesting.

Oh, onto Henry, he had to loose his head poor thing as I had mis-counted. That will teach him I thought, and promptly decided he would be headless until I had done everything else on him. Karma does come back and bite you in the head.

Look at that poor crease in my fabric... I miss my q snap, but I am using it on Fred, and he is behaving rather like a cat and sleeping for the most part. 

I have not done much designing, I am working on a veterinarian sampler at the moment, and instead of giving you heaps of bad designs I though quality over quantity. So you'll just have to wait.

As I am, I am waiting for "cute cross-stitch magazine". All the people in England have theirs, I want one too! I hate waiting.

Tormorrow I am going book shopping at the library with a friend, and on Sunday I hope to have finished all the cross stitches on Secret Wisp 2. 

Sparkling Sillyness

See, I did know it was that time of the week again! I have done a little on my secret WiSP 2.

Someone on the forum asked about the aforementioned sparklies and since I am sure I am not the only one in love with glittery things I will now talk about it.

I counted and there are three different types of sparkly floss in this kit. 

(the kit's name is a secret until at least may so if you have not guessed what it is you have to be kept in suspense until that time). 

The one used here in the pink to blend with. I like blending with sparklies, especially this type of thread as it is very thin and somewhat flat so it looks great blended. I must say, this is the second time I've used them and last time I had lots left over and they looked wonderful in a card I made, so I was contemplating getting more of this wonder thread that did not come with any other name than glitter in the kit... (If anyone here knows the name of it then I will be very happy and making glittery cards forever).

But I must warn you, it is a nightmare to work with, so use super short threads. Because it sticks to everything and will not lie in its place, it really need a lot of cajoling.

 Another type that you can see in this picture underneath and in-between all the purple, and that is called Kreinik silver. (which was my favorite) It did not frey one bit and glided through the fabric easily. The added bonus is that it looks fantastic!

  I will definitely buy lots of this, if I can figure out what size I need to buy.

The last type of sparkly threads I have not yet started on as it is used in the backstitch, but it is simply black speciality threads by DMC, and I've used that before, and I loved it! It does have a tendency to stick to the fabric, and not in a good way, and it frays easily, so again, keep it on a short leash.

Over to something else that should have been kept on a short leash....

Did I mention that I was feeling a bit under the weather today? I was so sick mind you, that I have not eaten a chocolate the entire day! So boyfriend went to his parents alone and I tried to stitch at home. I unpicked about half. But there you go. I could atleast watch my favorite program whilst unpicking, and in the middle of my show go and play at the computer and listen to music. (boyfriend can not stand my indecisive multitasking.) So all is well that ends well.

Fred had a break today.

Bunny is not happy with me today, as in her eyes, she has NOT gotten enough cuddles. But every time I try to she is not interested, but when I am busy she is desperate for kisses. This is the face I see when I look down as she is nudging my foot.

 She has gotten a new toy. And basil, which she loves, so she is mostly happy, although the tunnel is not used for tunneling but eating..... #Sillybunny.

And she is not content with just sitting near it/inside it/beside it and eat, no, she is frantic about eating the whole tunnel. But no tunneling. I could have just gotten her some branches from outside, it would have been far less expensive. But boyfriend and I felt she needed a present for staying alive through two surgeries....